Snowballs
The Snowballs are an all white team introduced in Marble League 2016. The team is represented by Snow, Snowy, Snowflake and Snowstorm. In Marble League 2016, the Snowballs did poorly and managed to finish only in 14th place after accumulating 14 points. The only medal they won was a bronze in the Relay Run event. Despite not finishing the race in the final run and coming last in the 4 way race, Snowballs were awarded a "consolation bronze" as the official has identified a defect in the lane 1 that the Snowballs were competing in. The Thunderbolts and Snowballs were both awarded the bronze medal and 5 points each. In the Marble League 2017 Qualifiers, Snowballs were tied for 13th and thus were eliminated before the final tournament. Snowblast also become a member for Marble League 2018. The Snowballs were the host team of Marble League 2018 and thus automatically qualified. Their performance in the friendly made them big favorites, but their burn out in the beginning of the games was discouraging before their first gold medal in the sixth event, Team Pursuit. The team ended in seventh place overall. After falling short of qualifying for the 2019 season, the Snowballs participated in the Marble League Showdown for one of eight spots in the Marble League 2020 Qualifiers. #SnowMuchFun Team Members Snow, Snowy, Snowflake and Snowstorm were the original members of Snowballs and the current members of the team. Snowblast joined the team in 2018. Snowflake became team captain in 2019. Coaches Note: Events include any kind of events (friendly rounds, other tournaments, ...). History The Snowballs come from the small city of Hailfern in the northeast of North America. When the Snowballs' team members were young, Hailfern was but a village known for its ski slopes, and nothing else. Snowflake lived in an acacia log house on one of the ski slopes there. In fact, her parents were the owners of that particular slope, which they somehow named after her: Snowflake Slope. It remains a tourist destination for marbles who live in the southeast of North America. It is believed that the O'Marbles family who later form the O'rangers used to hang out at the slope before competing in the Fruit Circuit. Snowflake would travel down the slope every day on her way to school in Hailfern. While at the school's after-school snowtubing club, she met Snowstorm and Snowblast. Some years later, Snowflake founded the school's ski team which practiced on her family's slope. The Hailfern Ski Team proved a worthy contender and qualified for the regional finals at Blancouver. Suddenly, during the finals, Snowflake found out that her father had been killed in an avalanche. She dropped out of the competition and returned home. Snowstorm and Snowblast talked to the other ski teams to try and raise support for Snowflake's family. The Blancouver team, headed up by Snow and Snowy, donated their funds from hosting to Snowflake's family. Snowflake dropped out of school to help her mother run the ski lift. Months later, the team from Blancouver came to Hailfern for a friendly match. Snowflake came along to support her former team. Snow, Snowy and Snowstorm came to visit her to remember their previous competitions. They later went out and rolled together into the night. They then promised to meet up again. Snowflake's mother supported her daughter in marble sports. Snowflake eventually rejoined the school ski team and, once she graduated, Snowflake, along with Snow, Snowy and Snowstorm, moved to Snoronto to attend the University of Snoronto. They continued to compete together in various marble sports. They eventually became known as the Snowballs and they became rivals with the university's other main group: the Gliding Glaciers, who hail from an island city called Guuk. The Snowballs became one of the most popular university teams in North America and brought international attention to Hailfern. The team were chosen to compete in Marble League 2016 as a wildcard entry compared to internationally renowned teams like Team Primary, the Savage Speeders and the Rojo Rollers. The Snowballs had a decent start to the competition, gaining one point in the first event, Balancing, five points and a technical bronze medal due to a track defect in Event 2, the Relay Race. However, the team only managed to earn another eight points over the next ten events, earning no points in six of those events, finishing the competition in a disappointing 14th place. The team returned to the Marble League for the Marble League 2017 Qualifiers with high hopes. However, those hopes were soon crushed. The team came fifth and eighth in the first two events, but earned no points in the final two events. The team came joint 13th with the Kobalts and the Balls of Chaos, 4 points short of qualifying. The team realized they needed more professional experience, so in the offseason, they competed in the MFC Championship League, which the Balls of Chaos mentioned to them. Meanwhile, Snowblast stayed in Hailfern and began building up the ski team to win its first regional title. The village had also started to expand in business. A construction company, Arctic Corporation, started working on an arena and training facilities for the Snowballs on the opposite side of the mountain from Snowflake Slope. The stadium was named The Arctic Circle upon completion. During the fall on 2017, the stadium was visited by Jelle and Dion Bakker and Greg Woods during their world tour, after visiting the Royal Family of Snoronto. They liked the stadium so much that they offered the Snowballs the chance to host Marble League 2018. They accepted and became the first team to host a Marble League. The Snowballs automatically qualified for Marble League 2018 as hosts. They recruited Snowblast as their reserve member for the Marble League 2018 Friendly Round, which was basically a practice round for them. They dominated the round, staying in the lead ahead of Marble League mainstays: the Savage Speeders, the O'rangers, and Mellow Yellow. Because of this, the Snowballs quickly became a favorite for the championship title. In fact, the Snowballs proceeded to start the main competition really well, with Snow finishing 4th in the first event, 5 Meter Ice Dash. However, in the next event, Ski Jump, Snowstorm had a mediocre performance, finishing 9th, and the team came last in the Halfpipe event. A mediocre seventh place in the Bobsled event saw the team fall to 13th overall. But the Snowballs had no intention to give up. They later managed to turn things around in the next three events, with the team's actual first medal, a bronze by Snowflake in Speed Skating, a gold medal in Team Pursuit, and a 4th place finish by Snowy in Snow Rally. This put the team in second overall. However, the Snowballs did not podium again and dropped to eighth as of the Ice Hockey event. Before the final event, a blizzard in Hailfern led to an avalanche that destroyed the stadium and severely damaged the Snowballs' training facilities. The Bakker brothers and the IMC decided to use the Bakker Bowl as a temporary stadium for the final event, Sand Mogul Race. Snow was chosen to represent the Snowballs in the event. He reached the Semifinals and was tied with Ocean of the Oceanics for time. As a result, the Snowballs concluded Marble League 2018 at seventh overall, tied with the Raspberry Racers for points, but ahead with a gold medal against the Raspberry Racers' silver, also from the Team Pursuit event. The Snowballs began to rebuild the stadium in the offseason. They also competed in two events: the 100 Meter Water Race, where Snowflake did not finish, and the Amazing Maze Marble Race, where the team came second-to-last. The team's struggles continued into the Marble League 2019 Qualifiers, where the team finished in 18th place, thus failing to qualify for Marble League 2019. Snowflake made a comment suggesting that the conditions weren't fair at the Seven Seas Stadium, the stadium of the Oceanics. This drew scrutiny from the Oceanics. The Snowballs dropped the charges after negotiations between the Royal Family of Snoronto and the Royal Family of Dunduei. The Snowballs then heard of the announcement for the Marble League Showdown 2019 and got back to training in their recently repaired training facility. The team did extremely well in the competition, earning a medal in all events except for Collision. Snowstorm earned a bronze medal in the Sand Rally, Snow won gold in the Funnel Race, and the team claimed silver in Balancing. The team earned 53 points and won the Showdown, securing their spot in the Marble League 2020 Qualifiers. While training for Marble League 2020, the Snowballs received an invitation from the JMRC to take part in Marbula One 2019/20. They happilly accepted it and chose Snowy and Snowflake to represent them. With their strong performance in Showdown 2019, the Snowballs could bet on Marbula One to prove their newfound supremacy as they kept an eye on the Marble League 2020 Qualifiers. Marble League 2016 *Snowballs originally finished 4th in the final, but because of a defect in upper lane, the lane they were running in, they received 1 extra point and they later received a bronze medal after the podium ceremony. Marble League 2017 'Qualifiers' The Snowballs failed to qualify for Marble League 2017. Marble League 2018 As hosts, the Snowballs automatically qualified. Friendly Round Main Tournament Marble League 2019 'Qualifiers' The Snowballs failed to qualify for Marble League 2019. Some have speculated that this was due to the difference in weather conditions compared to their home. Marble League Showdown 2019 The Snowballs qualified for the Marble League 2020 Qualifiers. 'Marbula One 2019/20' The Snowballs will be taking part in Marbula One 2019/20. Their team will consist of: * Snowy * Snowflake 'Results' | width="50%" valign="top" align="left" | 'Marble League Showdown Results' |} *Red border indicates tournaments as the host team. Trivia * The Snowballs, so far, are the best performing Marble League host team. * The Snowballs are the first winners of the Marble League Showdown. Furthermore, they have the singular record of having won at least one of each type of medal, which they achieved in 2019. * In the Snowballs' announcement poster for Marbula One, Snowflake's childhood home (an acacia log cabin) makes an appearance in the background. References Category:Teams Category:Snowballs Category:Marble League Category:Marble League Showdown Category:Marble League Teams Category:Marble League Showdown Teams Category:Marble League 2016 Teams Category:Marble League 2018 Teams Category:Marble League Showdown 2019 Teams Category:Marble League 2016 Category:Marble League 2018 Category:Marble League Showdown 2019